Back to School Activities for Elementary Kids

And the back to school fun doesn't stop there! We’ve also put together this list of fun, engaging, and educational activities to help your child get back into the learning mindset.

1. Create a summer scrapbook

Encourage your child to create a scrapbook capturing the highlights of their summer adventures. This can include tickets from trips, photos, postcards, and drawings.

Once they’ve gathered their materials, they can write short captions or longer diary entries about each memory. This exercise not only strengthens their writing skills but also promotes reflection and develops storytelling skills.

You can make it even more exciting by setting out colorful markers, glitter glue, stickers, and patterned paper so they can decorate their pages creatively. If they feel comfortable, they could share their scrapbook with classmates during the first week of school. This can be a fantastic icebreaker, helping their social development while practicing public speaking and presentation skills.

2. Back to school scavenger hunt

A scavenger hunt is a fantastic way to reintroduce children to school related items while building reading comprehension and problem solving skills. Create a list of objects they need to find around the house, such as a pencil, ruler, lunchbox, or exercise book.

To make the game more challenging and engaging, replace simple instructions with rhyming riddles or clues. For example:

“I’m long and straight and help you draw lines. Find me where the family dines.”

“I’m full of words from A to Z. Look for me by the apple tree.”

This activity not only gets kids excited about learning but also helps them get familiarised with their school supplies so they're ready to pack their school bag! It’s an easy, low cost way to bring a sense of fun and adventure to back to school preparation.

3. The 'new school year' wish jar

Goal setting can be a powerful skill to teach children, but it’s best introduced in a lighthearted, pressure free way and this is the perfect activity to do so!

Provide your child with a jar and colorful pieces of paper. Ask them to write down hopes, goals, or things they would like to try during the school year. Ideas could include making a new friend, improving in a specific subject, joining a school club, learning a new sport, or reading a certain number of books.

Seal the notes in the jar and set a reminder to open it together at the end of the school year. You can celebrate each goal that was achieved, discuss challenges, and set new ones for the future. If you’d like, introduce a simple reward system for completed goals to encourage motivation throughout the year.

4. Classroom creature creation

Tap into your child’s imagination by asking them to invent a fantastical animal that will be their “classroom buddy” for the school year. They can draw their creature, give it a name, and write a short story describing its special powers.

If your child needs some extra encouragement to get started, offer guiding prompts such as:

“Where does your creature live?”

“What does it eat for lunch?”

“What subject is it best at?”

This activity is perfect for developing creative writing skills and artistic expression, and it helps children get into the storytelling mindset before heading back to school.

BONUS TIP: Did you know on Night Zookeeper, your child can draw weird and wonderful imaginative animals for their zoo and bring them to life through creative writing prompts?

5. Math in the kitchen

Baking is a surprisingly effective and enjoyable way to refresh math skills. Start by having your child write out a shopping list for a recipe, which reinforces spelling and handwriting practice. Then, while baking, they can measure ingredients - it's an excellent way to explore fractions, multiplication, and problem solving.

If the recipe requires one half cup of sugar, but you only have a one quarter cup measure, they’ll need to figure out how many scoops to use. These small challenges turn math into a hands on, practical experience.

Once the baking is complete, children can get creative by decorating cookies or cupcakes. This adds a fun artistic element to the lesson and provides a tasty treat at the end!

6. The gratitude rainbow

Gratitude activities help children develop emotional resilience and a positive outlook which are important skills for supporting your child's wellbeing when they're navigating a new school year.

For this exercise, give your child a sheet of paper and ask them to draw a rainbow with seven stripes. In each stripe, they can write or draw something they are thankful for, such as family, friends, teachers, pets, or favorite hobbies.

You could adapt this activity by asking them to write their seven favorite summer memories or things they are looking forward to in the coming school year. Displaying their gratitude rainbow somewhere visible can serve as a daily reminder of positivity and appreciation.

7. Boost learning with Night Zookeeper!

The start of the school year is the ideal time to give your child’s reading and writing skills an extra boost. Night Zookeeper is a unique online learning program that turns language arts into a magical adventure.

Children create their own zoo full of imaginative animals and explore interactive spelling, grammar, and vocabulary games carefully designed by educators. The program can be adjusted to each child’s learning level, making it effective for refreshing skills after summer break or pushing ahead with more challenging material.

Parents appreciate the safe, moderated online environment, creative writing prompts, and encouraging feedback from real tutors. Learning is woven into exciting games and challenges, so children often don’t realize just how much they’re improving.

By integrating Night Zookeeper into your back to school routine, you can help your child start the term with confidence, creativity, and enthusiasm for learning.

You can try Night Zookeeper for 7 days with a FREE trial - risk free, cancel anytime!

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